This invention relates to certain new chemical compounds, which have useful antibacterial properties and which are new members of the class of antibiotics known as the macrolides. More particularly the new chemical compounds of the present invention are derivatives of the well-known antibiotic oleandomycin, in which the L-oleandrosyl unit has been replaced by a substituted tetrahydrofuranyl moiety.
Oleandomycin derivatives in which the L-oleandrosyl unit has been replaced by a hydrogen atom have been reported in U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,466. However, oleandomycin derivatives in which the L-oleandrosyl unit has been replaced by other heterocyclic groups have not been reported previously in the prior art.